T-Mobile CEO John Legere Wants You to Care About Spectrum

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has had considerable success getting wireless consumers on his side, but he faces an uphill battle in his latest quest: Convincing them to care about an upcoming spectrum auction and the rules that govern it. In 2016, the Federal Communications Commission will oversee an auction of wireless airwaves currently held by TV broadcasters.

Legere wants regulators to set aside more spectrum for smaller carriers rather than giving AT&T and Verizon the potential to bid on the bulk of the available spectrum. In a video blog, Legere urged people to make their voices heard to the FCC. “There’s some serious s--t about to go down in DC, and if you’re one of the 180 million Americans out there using a smartphone and you’re not pissed off right now, than you’re not paying attention -- but you need to,” Legere says, kicking off his case for why Verizon and AT&T shouldn’t be allowed to potentially run the table. Spectrum is, as Legere says, the lifeblood of the wireless industry. It’s key to calls and texts going through as well as to the fast data speeds that consumers crave.